


What’s On Your Forehead?

by avery_the_werm



Series: If Mike Wheeler was Richie Tozier’s (older) cousin [4]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: And he gets one as he should, Coming Out, Family Feels, Gay Richie Tozier, Internalized Homophobia, Nancy doin hot girl shit, Nancy is 23, Nancy should join the bully busters, Period-Typical Homophobia, Protective Nancy Wheeler, Richie Tozier Needs a Hug, Richie is 14, Richie’s boundaries:Respected B)), cuz when she finds out who hurt Richie, fucking King shit, gives Richie and Nancy a forehead kith, kind of, q slur warning!, she’s a good cousin, those bully’s will be busted asf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29040996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avery_the_werm/pseuds/avery_the_werm
Summary: Richie comes home from school, and he seems very...off.
Relationships: Richie Tozier & Nancy Wheeler
Series: If Mike Wheeler was Richie Tozier’s (older) cousin [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119137
Comments: 3
Kudos: 36





	What’s On Your Forehead?

**Author's Note:**

> TW FOR HOMOPHOBIA AND Q SLUR

**April 15th, 1990**

Nancy knew something was up when Richie came home late.

It wasn’t just that, though. He had looked very…out of it when he came back from school. Almost like he was in a default state. His hair was covering all of his forehead, instead of just half of it, like usual. Finally, instead of making a vulgar comment, like he usually did, he had run straight to the bathroom. 

She heard the door lock, and the sink water run for a little too long.

Something had happened, and even though Nancy found the twerp annoying, she still cared.

So, there she sat in the middle of her aunt and uncle’s living room, contemplating what she should do.

She couldn’t really do anything if she didn’t know what happened. Maybe Richie didn’t even _want_ her to know.

She heard the sink turn off after what seemed like forever. She waited for a second or two, before looking back, and noticing how her cousin was frantically running out of the bathroom, mumbling swears under his breath.

He was a mess.

“Richie?” She called back. The 14-year-old stopped in his tracks, but didn’t look at her.

“Yeah, Nance?”

“Everything okay?” 

She studied Richie, who seemed deep in thought. He swallowed, and looked down at his feet. “Yeah…yeah. I’m all good.”

 _Bullshit_.

“Okay.”

///

It had been about half an hour, and Richie still hasn’t left his room. Nancy looked up at the clock, and wondered when Mike would be back from walking around town. 

It had been a while since they visited Derry, and they both knew not much had changed. However, they still couldn’t help the chill that ran down both their spines as they entered the small town. That feeling hadn’t been there before.

The house wasn’t empty, but her cousin had been so quiet that it felt like it. 

Nancy didn’t like the feeling of empty houses, or creepy towns. Maybe if she talked to Richie, it would calm her nerves. 

He might be perfectly fine, and she just thought too much into it.

She walked up to his bedroom door, and opened it, which caused Richie to jump back a little. He stared at her wide eyed, and seemed to be processing that she had come in.

The first thing she noticed was the fact he had been rummaging through her makeup bag.

The second thing she noticed was that his forehead had thick, black, runny ink all over it. Whatever had been there before had been somewhat washed off, but the ink was clear as day.

Nancy kind of understood what had happened. Only kind of, though.

Richie gawked at her stupidly, before roughing up his hair, just enough so that she couldn’t see the ink anymore. Then he looked back at her, the tension definitely being something that could be cut with a knife.

He definitely cared more about whatever had been on his forehead, than the fact he had been caught looking through her things.

“Look, Nance-“

“What’s on your forehead?”

The words had come out quiet, but the demanding tone that they held overpowered that. 

“What?” The boy asked. She watched, as his eyes seemed to linger on her just a bit too long.

She walked up to him, and sat across from him on his bed. He seemed to panic a bit.

“Your forehead.” She responded. “What’s on it?”

“Oh.” He looked away, eyes looking anywhere but at her. “Nothing serious. Just some shit an asshole at school wrote, ya know?”

Yeah. Nancy had figured.

“If it’s not serious, you wouldn’t be spending an hour trying to get rid of it.” She pointed out, pursing her lips a bit.

“I guess…” He said, looking down at Nancy’s makeup bag, which sat in his lap. He rubbed his nose a bit with a small sniff. One she was sure she would’ve never heard if she wasn’t listening closely.

Nancy looked at the side of the bed. Richie took her makeup bag for a reason, and she shouldn’t be getting angry right now. He probably didn’t want her to know he was getting bullied. However, then again-

No. That couldn’t be it. He told her that people had messed with him so nonchalantly. That wasn’t the reason.

The bullies(or bully)had written something he didn’t want her to see. 

“I could help you cover it up, Richie. I’d have to see it, though.” 

He looked up at her, and he looked so terrified that it made Nancy concerned. He looked away, and swallowed with a small nod. “Okay.”

Nancy offered him a smile as she took her makeup bag before setting it in her lap. She looked up at Richie, and softly pushed the hair out of his face, finally seeing the word he had been trying so hard to hide.

‘ **QUEER** ’

Oh.

She hesitated for a second, and noticed how Richie looked on the verge of tears.

“Rich?”

“Yeah?” His voice came out a bit shaky. 

“Who wrote that?”

He didn’t answer her. She decided not to press on the issue, but she also knew that him rubbing his face would make this a lot harder than it had to be.

“Do you need to cry?” She asked, voice soft. Richie shook his head, but tears were already falling. He shut his eyes tight, and hiccuped as he rubbed at his face and let out a small sob.

Nancy hugged him for the first time in a while.

///

It took an hour to finish covering Richie’s forehead. 

Not because covering it was hard, but because Richie had kept rubbing his face, and smudging the makeup. Not to mention the new tears that came every now and then. Nancy never yelled at him for it, though.

But now his head was covered, and he was sleeping soundly in his bed. Nancy sat at the edge of it, staring at the boy solemnly.

A lot of things about Richie started to make sense. At least how he reacted to things. 

Like his silence when asked if he had a girlfriend at family gatherings, or the flash of fear when derogatory comments about gays-

No.

When derogatory comments about gay _people_ were made.

It was different when it applied to you, and Nancy never truly understood that until now.

She looked away from her cousin, knowing damn well she was going to find out who wrote that word.

She’ll wait for Richie to tell her that, though.

**Author's Note:**

> *Feeds you content a gives you kith*
> 
> ~Ave~


End file.
